Raising the Floor named to Forbes 2026 Accessibility 200 for free innovative tools

Washington, DC — Raising the Floor, an international nonprofit working to make digital technology easier for everyone to use, has been named to the Forbes 2026 Accessibility 200, a list recognizing innovators and impact-makers in accessibility.

RtF’s flagship product, Morphic, is a free and open-source tool that helps people adjust how a computer looks and behaves in seconds. With a simple toolbar, users can enlarge text, increase contrast, have text read aloud and access other built-in accessibility features without needing to know where those settings are hidden or what they are called.

A second tool, the Learn & Try tool, allows anyone to find all available computer access tools for PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, iPads, iPhones, or Android devices. This includes built-in as well as add on tools/programs, free, and commercial. And 9 out of 10 are free or free to try.

“In my 50 plus years in this field, I have seen the same problem again and again: the tools exist, but people cannot find them, afford them, or figure out how to use them when they need them,” said Gregg Vanderheiden, founder of Raising the Floor. “We built Morphic to make the tools already built into PCs and Macs easy to find and available with a single click. And a new Learn & Try website in final development will let anyone, with or without any knowledge of AT, to find solutions for themselves or others for essentially any computer, tablet or smartphone.”

Since launch, Morphic has been deployed across tens of thousands of computers at libraries, colleges, disability programs, senior centers, and on individual’s computers as well. For many users, it is the first time a computer has worked the way they needed it to.

One caregiver described installing Morphic after her husband, whose vision was affected by late-stage cancer, could no longer complete documents in Microsoft Word. After downloading Morphic, she said it solved the problem in about 30 seconds.

Morphic is free to use, and it does not require users to create an account or provide personal information to use the tool. RtF’s work is built around a simple idea: cost, complexity, and privacy concerns should not prevent people from using technology. Nor should accessibility features be so hard to find that those who need them never know they are there. RtF designs its tools so people can discover them – even when they don’t know they exist and use them with very little, if any, digital skill.

Looking ahead, Raising the Floor is also developing a second tool, the Learn & Try tool, that makes it easy for anyone to find all available accessibility tools for PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, iPads, iPhones, or Android devices. This includes built-in features as well as installed tools/programs. It includes both free, and commercial solutions — and 9 out of 10 are free or free to try making it easy for people to try things before they have to commit to purchase. A preview is available at https://learnandtry.org with a full launch planned for this summer.

Raising the Floor was also the recipient of a Zero Project Award for Morphic in 2024, which was awarded at Zero Project Conference 2024 at the United Nations Office in Vienna.

About Raising the Floor

Raising the Floor is an international nonprofit consortium working to advance digital inclusion and make technology easier for more people to use. Through research, design and technology development, RTF creates open-source software, educational materials and practical tools for individuals, schools, libraries, workforce programs and other organizations. Learn more at raisingthefloor.org.